Eating Out At Aqaba, Lower Parel, Mumbai

You know how sometimes you get caught up enough in life and in Mumbai, because the city tends to do that to the best of us, and forget that you have to specifically take time out for the people in your life? And no, not just family; friends too. 'Let's meet someday' isn't easy to bring about because in the days of the week, there isn't a 'Someday'. Which is why when I knew I had a chance to meet two dear friends, I said a conscious yes.

And the excuse was Mumbai's new, fancy, extravagantly spacious Middle Eastern restaurant: Aqaba. It took me a fair amount of struggling to get to this place (rains and irate rickshaw drivers and heartless cab drivers) but I got there in decent time. This place is in Peninsula Business Park (Opp Urmi Estate), Lower Parel. Please drive. There's no way you are getting a cab unless you take it from five kilometres away. Was it worth it? Umm, yes :) Arrived a little before Gaurav Jain, who writes at 'Eating Out In Bombay'.

I have stuck to a boring old photo of the menu up top mostly because i don't think one of my usual pics will do justice to how beautiful the space really is. Go. And sit by the window. It's the biggest patch of green in all of Lower Parel. They came up with a drinks menu - wasted on me. Plus, I wanted real estate for the food.

My no drinks policy might start to make sense as you scroll down. We started with a Mezze Platter & Pita. There's Hummus, Muhammarah, Labneh, olives, Falafel and Tzatziki. I know I do not have a clear picture of the pita but that pita was seriously amazing. It was puffy, had a pocket, and when I tore it, a billow of steam got out - that lovely warm smell of freshly baked bread. You can tell. The pita made every dip shine. But despite all that perfection, not a big fan of this particular, salsa-like Muhammarah. Sweetish and grainy. Not my thing but it might rock your boat.

Then came this salad. Simple, old school Greek salad. Don't you love calling for one of these and then judging the heck out of a place because there's the tiniest bit of feta in there? Couldn't complain. This salad was huge. Tons of cheese. Very fresh greens. No bitter undertones. Crunchy. Fresh. And, umm, despite all my reservations, I managed to finish that. It was gorgeous. You might want to split it up though :)

By this time, I was pretty sure I would not be having any main course. Which is when Gaurav suggested we split the main course (thank god for vegetarian friends!) and we settled on the Arabic Cottage Cheese & Haloumi Kofte on a bed of spiced rice with mash and veggies. Beautiful looking platter, lovely Kofte, a bit reminiscent of the Bangla Veg Chop - just a bit, in a lovely, 'That feels familiar!' way. It came with two sauces that I forgot all about because this in itself was pretty complete.

And finally, the one course I was really looking forward to. I am not a big fan of eating dessert, but I always go through this section first on the menu. I do this because it makes me happy if I see a restaurant trying something new. Frankly, I am sick of seeing ice creams, sizzling brownies, cheesecakes and caramel custards dominate dessert menus. While the usual suspects made their appearance on the menu, it was also sprinkled with a few new desserts - refreshing change! Like a couscous Baklava, and the usual pistachio Baklava...and then this Rose Petal Ice Cream! It sounded lovely, light, fresh so we called for it. The ice cream was delicious! We avoided the fruit - i don't know about you guys but I do not like fresh fruit on my ice cream. So we pushed the Kiwi aside and ate through the ice cream. The wine drop biscuits, while amazingly rose flavour infused, were chewy in a bad, not fresh way. I'd just skip that cookie but hey, yours might just turn up fresher than ours did.

So, go for the view, for the food. Make it long and leisurely. And go loaded - the place is on the expensive side. But worth it for the sort of place and food they have served up. Bon appetit!